Luke Skywalker was just a farm boy from Tatooine before beginning his training to become a Jedi. Though he would eventually sell hi X-34 landspeeder in order to buy passage aboard the Millennium Falcon, for much of Luke's youth, this civilian vehicle was his only transport between his homestead and outposts such as Tosche Station and Anchorhead, as well as the Jundland Wastes, Dune Sea, and beyond. Luke's landspeeder may have been past its prime when it came into his possession, but careful maintenance restored its hovering abilities and notable speed to working form. When Luke received Princess Leia Organa's message for help from R2-D2, it was with his landspeeder that he was able to journey out in search of old Ben - or as he would come to know him, Obi-Wan Kenobi. Eventually, Luke became an intergalactic legend through his ties with the Rebel Alliance and his mastery in the ways of the Jedi - but his humble beginnings riding his X-34 landspeeder across the barren, sandy lands of Tatooine were where this galactic icon got his start.

How many of us have been to a shopping mall around Christmastime? It’s typically complete chaos in those structures, but one of the more calming aspects are the beautiful Christmas trees and stunningly wrapped gifts below them…. all for effect and ambience. Those wrapped packages clearly don’t’ have any valuable merchandise in them. In fact, we know for fact that those beautifully decorated gifts are nothing more than empty boxes. If they were stolen, it wouldn’t have any impact on the shrinkage amounts in the stores. Why are we introducing the X-34 Landspeeder/Luke Skywalker San Diego Comic Con exclusive review with this? Well, hopefully for effect and illustration. The Black Series [Phase III] 6” X-34 Landspeeder/Luke Skywalker two-pack is visually one of the most beautiful things we have ever seen Hasbro create. We’re not being facetious here. It is. But it’s with great regret that we feel strongly that this expensive San Diego Comic Con exclusive may not amount to much more than those “empty boxes” underneath the Christmas trees at the mall. We’re not trying to demean a product that fans of the line will surely adore. If you’re keeping this exclusive sealed in the box, then you have nothing to worry about here. But for loose collectors, well, we think you’re going to see eye to eye with us on the problems this set has. The packaging here is absolutely stunning. Hasbro utilized black and bronze themes to design a box that should make all collectors weepy-eyed. This is exclusivity at its finest and we applaud Hasbro for the approach to how these products have been displayed. Let us reiterate clearly so you don’t get a bad attitude over this and say that JTA is the worst Star Wars fan site of all time. The X-34 Landspeeder/Luke Skywalker is STUNNING in appearance. It’s one of the nicest things, visually, Hasbro has put together and released. But now let’s talk about why it isn’t everything that meets the eye because it’s important.

The packaging is deceiving. It’s extremely heavy and we were surprised that Hasbro made the X-34 Landspeeder as heavy as they did. But once we opened up the packaging we realized they actually didn’t. All of the weightiness and girth of this set is physically in the packaging. It’s not the plastic inside that’s heavy. It’s the box. Upon its inspection, we were stunned to see the level of design that went into making a box with such heaviness and thickness. If you think about a deluxe set of books housed in a thick slip case, that is about the same quality of materials we get here. You’ll have regrets once you open up this piece because the box is almost like a gift box. It certainly has more weight than the toys inside. After spending some time cutting the bands to free the X-34 Landspeeder/Luke Skywalker products inside, you’ll have instant disappointment when you realize how hollow and light the X-34 Landspeeder is. We’re guessing, but we would imagine that 2011’s The Vintage CollectionLandspeeder (Vehicle) in 3.75” scale weighs the same weight. The Black Series [Phase III] X-34 Landspeeder seems that it should weight about double than what it does. It feels hollow and empty. From this perspective, it’s a very disappointing release. We are unable to process why Hasbro has yet to realize the importance of giving collectors some durability and weight with this larger vehicles. Just let us believe we are getting something of substance for these expensive prices. The included Luke Skywalker figure can fit inside the seating area, and one other character will fit in as a copilot too. But it’s a tight squeeze. For the SDCC exclusive version Hasbro has given the vehicle a very generous paint job. It will come with more and better applications than the standard release. It also comes with an opening hood with an exclusive rotating turbine (that activates with the push of a button). Features on the Luke Skywalker figure are also exclusive here, so let’s get to him next.

For the most part, Luke Skywalker is a pretty standard release. For the SDCC exclusive however, Hasbro gave Luke Skywalker a tunic/shirt made from premium linen fabric. It is worlds apart better than what we got with 2016’s TBS [P3] Luke Skywalker (21) figure. It looks like the real fabric that was worn in the film. Sadly, it doesn’t fit on the figure all that better as it doesn’t lay close enough to the figure’s body, but aesthetically it is a huge upgrade. Not exclusive, Luke Skywalker also comes with a ton of more accessories that in all honesty should have come with the $19.99 retail figure, not the $89.99 exclusive version. Included with Luke Skywalker are the aforementioned tunic, removable belt, lightsaber blade, lightsaber hilt, blaster rifle (which attached beautifully to the hood of the X-34 Landspeeder), floppy hat and poncho. The poncho is also soft-goods material and hangs nicely on the figure. It’s a bit too shiny, but it’s fine for this release. All of the accessories interact wonderfully with Luke Skywalker and the floppy hat fits like a glove. We’re very happy with how all of these pieces work with Luke. Luke Skywalker also has been given an all-new head sculpt. We actually prefer it to the head sculpt given to the mainstream release, but Hasbro sadly gave him too much facial makeup and stringent collectors are definitely going to criticize the final paint applications. We still believe this version of Luke Skywalker is a significant upgrade to the mainstream release, but that is something you’re going to have to decide for yourselves. This is easily a $49.99-$59.99 release. It shouldn’t be any more money than this. There just isn’t enough “plastic” here to feel like anyone is getting value here for just shy of $100. However, if this is something you’re planning to keep in the packaging, then get it. Because it will be difficult for Hasbro to outdo themselves here.